Is Ebola Contagious?

Contagion summary:

People can be exposed to Ebola virus from direct contact with the blood and/or secretions of an infected person. This is why the virus has often been spread through the families and friends of infected persons: in the course of feeding, holding, or otherwise caring for them, family members and friends would come into close contact with such secretions. People can also be exposed to Ebola virus through contact with objects, such as needles, that have been contaminated with infected secretions. (Source: excerpt from Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: DVRD)

Discussion about Contagion of Ebola:

Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: DVRD (Excerpt)

Infection with Ebola virus in humans is incidental -- humans do not "carry" the virus. Because the natural reservoir of the virus is unknown, the manner in which the virus first appears in a human at the start of an outbreak has not been determined. However, researchers have hypothesized that the first patient becomes infected through contact with an infected animal. (Source: excerpt from Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: DVRD)

Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: DVRD (Excerpt)

Nosocomial transmission has been associated frequently with Ebola HF outbreaks. It includes both types of transmission described above, but it is used to describe the spread of disease in a health-care setting such as a clinic or hospital. In African health-care facilities, patients are often cared for without the use of a mask, gown, or gloves, and exposure to the virus has occurred when health care workers treated individuals with Ebola HF without wearing these types of protective clothing. In addition, when needles or syringes are used, they may not be of the disposable type, or may not have been sterilized, but only rinsed before re-insertion into multi-use vials of medicine. If needles or syringes become contaminated with virus and are then reused, numbers of people can become infected.

Ebola-Reston that appeared in a primate research facility in Virginia, may have been transmitted from monkey to monkey through the air in the facility. While all Ebola virus species have displayed the ability to be spread through airborne particles (aerosols) under research conditions, this type of spread has not been documented among humans in a real-world setting, such as a hospital or household. (Source: excerpt from Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: DVRD)

About contagion and contagiousness:

Contagion and contagiousness refers to how easily the spread of Ebola is possible from one person to another. Other words for contagion include "infection", "infectiousness", "transmission" or "transmissability". Contagiousness has nothing to do with genetics or inheriting diseases from parents. For an overview of contagion, see Introduction to Contagion.

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